Lambda
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What is AWS Lambda?
AWS Lambda is a serverless computing service by Amazon that lets you run code in response to events without provisioning or managing servers. You are charged only for the compute time you consume.
How does AWS Lambda work?
AWS Lambda executes your code only when needed and scales automatically, from a few requests per day to thousands per second, handling the infrastructure management tasks necessary for high availability.
What triggers AWS Lambda functions?
Lambda functions can be triggered by various AWS services such as S3, DynamoDB, Kinesis, SNS, API Gateway, and events from EventBridge (formerly CloudWatch Events), enabling asynchronous workflows.
What are Lambda function environments?
Lambda environments provide a runtime including the host OS, programming language-specific runtime, libraries, and the function's memory, timeout, concurrency settings. It offers execution context with environment variables and metadata.
What programming languages does AWS Lambda support?
AWS Lambda supports a variety of programming languages including Node.js, Python, Ruby, Java, Go, .NET Core, and custom runtimes using the Runtime API.
What are Lambda Layers?
Lambda Layers allow you to manage your function's external dependencies separately, so you can package and share them across multiple functions to reduce the package size and ensure consistency.
How does AWS Lambda pricing work?
AWS Lambda charges are based on the number of requests and the execution duration. Pricing includes a free tier of 1 million requests and 400,000 GB-seconds per month.
What is the maximum execution time for an AWS Lambda function?
The maximum execution time for an AWS Lambda function is 15 minutes, after which the function execution will time out if not completed before this limit.
What are cold starts in AWS Lambda?
Cold starts in AWS Lambda occur when a function is invoked after not being used for a while, requiring initialization of the execution environment, leading to longer response times initially.
How can I reduce cold start latency in AWS Lambda?
To reduce cold start latency, tailor your function to minimal memory while warming up by scheduled invokes, use provisioned concurrency, and optimize your function initialization code.
What is Provisioned Concurrency in AWS Lambda?
Provisioned Concurrency sets aside a specified number of execution environments for a function, reducing cold start delays and ensuring consistent response times for highly sensitive performance applications.
How is AWS Lambda different from EC2?
AWS Lambda abstracts server management, automatically scales to meet demand, and charges per request and compute time, unlike EC2, which requires management of virtual machines with a pay-for-duration model.
Can AWS Lambda function be stateful?
AWS Lambda functions are stateless; data does not persist between invocations. You can manage state using external storage like DynamoDB, S3, or stateful services like Step Functions.
What is the AWS Lambda execution environment?
The AWS Lambda execution environment is a managed container that runs your function's code and extends with supported languages, libraries, and file system for code execution.
What is the memory and CPU allocation limit for AWS Lambda?
AWS Lambda functions can allocate between 128 MB and 10,240 MB of memory in 1 MB increments, with CPU power scaling proportionally to memory allocation.
How do environment variables work in AWS Lambda?
Environment variables in AWS Lambda enable you to pass key-value pairs to your function code, managing configurations without modifying the function code for changes.
How can I secure AWS Lambda functions?
Secure AWS Lambda by implementing IAM roles for permissions, encrypting environment variables, using VPC for network isolation, and monitoring with CloudTrail, GuardDuty, and AWS Config.
What is an execution role in AWS Lambda?
An execution role is an IAM role that Lambda assumes when it executes your function, allowing it to access AWS resources, manage permissions, and perform specific actions.
Can AWS Lambda run containers?
Yes, AWS Lambda can run container images up to 10 GB, enabling developers to package dependencies and code using familiar container development tools for serverless workloads.
Does AWS Lambda support asynchronous execution?
Yes, AWS Lambda supports asynchronous invocation, where the event sources such as S3 and SNS invoke a function, and Lambda automatically retries if the function fails.
What is an Amazon SQS trigger in AWS Lambda?
An SQS trigger allows AWS Lambda to poll new messages from an Amazon SQS queue, enabling event-driven invocation for processing message events in a serverless environment.
What are the security best practices for AWS Lambda?
Security best practices for AWS Lambda include minimizing IAM permissions, encrypting data at rest and in transit, using encryption for environment variables, and regularly auditing Lambda activity.
How can you monitor AWS Lambda function performance?
Monitor AWS Lambda performance using Amazon CloudWatch Logs for logging outputs and errors, CloudWatch Metrics for function duration and invocations, and AWS X-Ray for tracing request paths.
How are AWS Lambda function logs managed?
AWS Lambda automatically integrates with Amazon CloudWatch Logs to store and manage your function's log data, enabling retrieval and analysis through the AWS Management Console or CLI.
What is an AWS Lambda Edge?
AWS Lambda@Edge enables running Lambda functions at AWS locations globally closer to users. This helps in adjusting HTTP requests and responses to operate logic at the edge.
What is the difference between Lambda synchronous and asynchronous invocation?
In synchronous invocation, the caller waits for the function to process the event and return a response, whereas asynchronous invocation queues the event for Lambda to handle, acknowledging immediately.
What is the concurrency limit in AWS Lambda?
AWS Lambda initially allows up to 1,000 requests at the same time per account, but this soft limit can be increased by request; functions also have reserved and provisioned concurrency settings.
Can AWS Lambda access on-premises resources?
AWS Lambda can access on-premises resources if the Lambda function is set up within a VPC, provided via AWS Direct Connect or VPN for connections between AWS and on-premise facilities.
What are the regional service limits for AWS Lambda?
AWS Lambda regional service limits include a default of 1,000 concurrent executions per account, memory limits from 128 MB to 10,240 MB, and function and file descriptors constraints.
How do you test AWS Lambda functions locally?
You can use AWS SAM CLI or third-party tools like Serverless Framework and Docker to emulate the AWS Lambda environment for local testing, allowing function testing without invocation costs.
How can AWS Lambda be optimized for performance?
Optimize AWS Lambda by managing memory size, reducing cold starts with provisioned concurrency, efficient logic in code, using layers, managing dependencies, and reducing function package size.
What is AWS Lambda's default timeout setting?
AWS Lambda's default timeout setting is 3 seconds per function execution but this can be increased up to the maximum of 15 minutes, based on application requirement.
What is AWS Lambda's event source mapping?
Event source mappings allow setting AWS Lambda to read from a Stream or Queue source and invoke the function with messages from services like DynamoDB Streams or Kinesis.
What is AWS Lambda's maximum payload size?
AWS Lambda's maximum invocation payload size is 6 MB for synchronous requests, while asynchronous invocation requests can handle up to 256 KB of payload size.
Can AWS Lambda scale automatically?
AWS Lambda automatically scales with the number of concurrent requests by instantiating multiple function instances, maintaining performance without manual scaling configurations.
What is AWS Lambda's integration with API Gateway?
AWS Lambda integrates with API Gateway allowing RESTful APIs to be created, with Lambda functions handling HTTP requests, enabling secure and scalable backend logic execution.
What problems does AWS Lambda solve?
AWS Lambda simplifies running code with event-driven, serverless computing, reducing server management, auto-scaling, precise billing, complex infrastructure management needs, and improving agility.
What are the limitations of AWS Lambda?
AWS Lambda has limitations such as 15-minute execution time, limited language support, resource constraints per execution, dependency packaging size, and initial cold start latency issues.
How does AWS Lambda achieve high availability?
AWS Lambda achieves high availability by running functions within AWS's region-wide services, distributed across multiple Availability Zones, and automatically managing infrastructure scale and fault-tolerant execution.
What configuration options are available for AWS Lambda?
AWS Lambda configuration options include memory size, timeout setting, layers, environment variables, VPC configuration, IAM roles, notifications, error handling, logging, and scaling settings like concurrency.
What is AWS Lambda's burst concurrency?
AWS Lambda's burst concurrency allows rapid scaling by bursting rate of 500 instances in US and EU regions, and 300 in other regions during peak loads.
How does AWS Lambda integrate with AWS Step Functions?
AWS Lambda integrates with AWS Step Functions to create and execute workflows, automating business logic, enabling more robust AWS services orchestration, and managing state flow for complex tasks.
How do you handle exceptions in AWS Lambda?
Exceptions in AWS Lambda can be managed using structured error handling with try-catch blocks, Lambda Destinations for async calls, and logging errors using CloudWatch for better debugging.
How does AWS Lambda handle retries for failed executions?
AWS Lambda retries asynchronous invocations automatically with a built-in exponential back-off strategy and custom configurations to handle errors and ensure successful event processing.
What development tools are available for AWS Lambda?
AWS Lambda development tools include AWS Console, CLI, AWS Toolkit extensions for IDEs, AWS SAM for deployment, Serverless Framework, Lambda Layers, and debugging features for efficient development.
What is AWS Lambda's integration with RDS Proxy?
AWS Lambda integrates with RDS Proxy allowing improved relational database efficiency by pooling and sharing RDS connections, scaling easily under unpredictable load by managing connections better.
Can AWS Lambda functions be written in PHP?
AWS Lambda does not natively support PHP, but it can run PHP via custom runtime APIs, open-source layers or containers that include the PHP runtime environment.
How does AWS Lambda balance cost and performance?
AWS Lambda balances cost and performance by charging based on the duration and memory used per execution, allowing fine-grain control over executions, choice of configurations, and concurrency settings.